Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-03-17
MARTHA WASHINGTON.


MARTHA WASHINGTON.
She Was Poor Speller and Her Grammar
Wonld Not Pass Muster
Cosmopolitan
Martha Washington was not an educat
ed woman in the sense of to-day. She
did not spell well, and her grammar
| would hardly stand the parsing of the
public schools. Copies of two of her
letters to her sister, Mrs. Bassett, lie be-
fore me. They were written at about
the beginning of the Revolution. She
began one thus: II have wrote to you
several times, in hopes it would put you
in mind of me, but find it has not had
its INTENDED effect" Further on she adds:
"The rivers has never been frozen hard
enough to walk upon the ice since 1 came
here" Among the misspelt words of the
letter are: "Navey" for navy, 'loded"
for loaded, ''coles" for Goals, distant"
for destined, ''clere" for clear, ''heare" for
here, 'plesed" for pleased, and greatful''
for grateful. Company she spells "com-
paney," and persuaded "perswaded."
In the fac simile of letter that she
wrote to William B. Reed, of New York,
i'll 1777, I see that she knew no other
punctuation mark than the dash, that the
apostrophe was stranger to her, and
that her writing, though not illegible,
was far from beautiful or elegant. The
use Of the capital was as embarrassing to
her as the use of the punctuation point,
and her letters look as though the capt.
tails had been shaken out Of a mammoth
pepper-box and permitted to lie wherever
they fell
One of her letters, commencing ssMy
Dear Fanny" was lately communicated
by Rev. II. E. Hayden, of Pennsylvania
to ''The Magazine of American History"
1t is dated Mount Vernon. Aug. Z. 1884"
and the verbatim spelling and punctua-
ton are preserved in the publication.
Some of the sentences begin with CAPT
tails and some without. She writes of
my little nelly" referring probably to
Nellie Curtis, and in the same line saws
that Gut is the same claver (clever) boy
you left him." thus capitalizing the boys
name, while she gives no capital to that
of the girl. She writes Fanny ''that the
General had received a letter from her
papa" dated at richmond" begins the
noxt sentence with a small letter. and
in it capitalizes "Brothers' s'Family" and
General"
A person uses his best grammar while
writing, and he who makes mistakes here
makes more in conversation. Martha
Washington may have been we'll educated
IN the school of society and in that of
life. She was certainly not SO in books
and literature. There was no library to
speak of att Mt. Vernon, and Gen. Wash
lngton was more of an ont door man than
a student. We have no record of his wife
being reader, save that she read chapt-
er of her Bible every morning. She knew
nothing about novels, and the American
monthly magazine, the great family edu-
Gator of the present, was not yet born.
Martha Washington had, however, the
best advantages of the day. Her whole
life was spent among learned men and
bright women, but there is no record left
that she was brilliant in social converse
ton, and you will read in vain for the re.
ported bon mots of Martha Washington.
The truth seems to be that Martha Wash
iDgton thought woman's sphere was home
and that knitting and cooking were more
important than writing letters and
knowledge of French. She is said 20 have
been good business woman and to have
managed the large estate of her first hus-
band very ably before she handedher share
Of it over to George Washington.
Men, such as U. S. Senator VOORHEES,, of
Indiana, are loud in their praise of st.
Jacobs Oil as an instantaneous cure for
rheumatism, neuralgia, sciatica and other
bodily pains.
People should be careful how they &C
cept the prescriptions found in the daily
papers. 4 sure cure for diphtheria pub
lished by some of the papers, prescribed
a tablespoonful of turpentine for adults
and q teaspoonful for children, frequent
Iy repeated-an excessive or poisonous
dose of 3 substance which must in any
case be administered with great caution.
DR.. Foote's Health Monthly.
Everybody's companion is nobody's
friend, but Red Star Cough Cure is every
body's friend. Prof. Grothe, OF the
Brooklyn Board Of Health, endorses it as
prompt, safe and sure. Price, twenty
i've cents bottle.
All fowls that feather slowly are usually
hardy. For instance, the Brahmas. 1t is
owing to tue fact that the drain on the
systen occasioned By quick featheripg
does not weaken them. Slow featherlng
while growing Is indicative of hardness
Two cezte ariars died in Lowell on Sun
day-Paul McAloon, aged 101 years and
Rose Mcguire, 103 years. Both were ma
tiyes of Ireland, and had lived in Lowell
nearly half a century.
Parents and spectators, instead of the
children. are held responsible for crimes
committed by the latter
It is asserted that ZOO women own an
farms in Iowa.